Woman found dying next to mailbox was victim of break-in

By Ana Ley :
May 28, 2013
: Updated: May 28, 2013 1:48pm

San Antonio police gather at a scene Friday May 17, 2013 on the West Side that is currently being investigated as a homicide. Police Chief William McManus said a woman believed to be in her early 40s was found by a passerby next to a mailbox at the corner of Canterbury and Harefield. The woman was transported by EMS to a hospital where she died. The chief did not say how the woman was killed but did say "she was the victim of a violent crime."

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

San Antonio police Chief William McManus (left) speaks with the media at a scene Friday May 17, 2013 on the West Side that is currently being investigated as a homicide. The chief said a woman believed to be in her early 40s was found by a passerby next to a mailbox at the corner of Canterbury and Harefield. The woman was transported by EMS to a hospital where she died. The chief did not say how the woman was killed but did say "she was the victim of a violent crime."

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A woman who was found stabbed and dying next to a mailbox at her West Side home appeared to be the victim of a break-in, police said.

Eleanor Gonzales, 43, was found about 8:30 a.m. May 17 near Canterbury and Harefield streets. She died shortly after of stab wounds, according to the medical examiner's office.

Someone apparently had broken into the home because the frame of the front door was damaged and split, according to an incident report. Blood covered the floor in the hallway and the restroom, and the rooms and dresser drawers appeared to have been ransacked.

A neighbor who was walking her children to a nearby school found Gonzales lying on the ground. The neighbor flagged down an officer who was nearby and others began gathering around the injured woman.

Police Chief William McManus said the day of the incident that the attack was not random, though he declined to disclose the relationship between Gonzales and the attacker.

The case is being handled as a capital murder. No arrests have been made.